Electric Foreigner - a catamaranEP converson project

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Vinny Barbarino

Well overdue update:

We had a couple of "false starts" moving SV Foreigner from the hard into the water, hence the delay on the updates.

A couple of months ago, on the day of splashing, I noticed an issue with one of the driver control units. This was replaced under warranty by the dealer (Florida based), with an exceptional level of service and support. Thus, we never splashed at that time.

About a week ago, we splashed, and have since performed a couple of tests. Honestly, I was not paying close attention to exact data, being more concerned about a thousand other things on the shakedown sail (as this is a 50-year-old catamaran that I have personally done a lot of work on!).

Initial thoughts:

The epropulsion motors are fantastic.

Docking is an absolute breeze, I've never experienced a boat that can so quickly move from forward to reverse. The power is very close to instantaneous - and there is a significant amount of power for the ~7 ton displacement.

Full power I believe I was at about 6.5 knots STW. However, there is a chance I wasn't actually at full power at the moment I noticed we were at 6.5 knots. My gut feeling says we could achieve a higher top speed.

With a decent amount of motoring, against a strong Trinidad Boca current, we were easily doing 4.5 knots, for a good half hour or so.

At low speeds, the power usage is surprisingly low. With a typical day sail around here, with strong currents etc, we motored for around an hour at or close to top speed, docked, performed some other maneuvers, and had plenty of battery left upon return (we used ~40% of battery).

One issue - we have third-party batteries, not ePropulsion batteries. On the display, the reading of battery "percentage available" is incredibly incorrect. The voltage available is fairly accurate. There are some settings that I can adjust to try and improve this reading.

With more journeys under our belt, I'll update a little further.

The summary is - so far, I am incredibly impressed.

Congratulations! I pulled out my diesel and converted to electric propulsion in 20008 and never looked back. I still get a kick when docking which is more like docking in space than a controlled crash with a diesel. Much more control over the boats speed as you found out. No more shouting over the engine noise too! I also got use to the smell of clean in the bilge.

[steveth3b]

Is yours the one for sale in FL?

[Vinny Barbarino]

This one:


https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/197...pache-9325617/

??

If so, no, that's not mine.

[Jim Jones]

Vinny,

How are the POD's going? Any update? Would you go e-propulsion again?

I also have 2 x 6kW POD's from e-propulsion - not installed yet.

Now the 12kw units are about to come on the market - August they tell me. However the 12kw units are 96v so there is that.

I have welded POD boxs to each side of my hull - made from 12mm 6000 series aluminium and had the bolt pattern cut on a waterjet so that it is all sub mm precise for fitting the PODs to the box.

The box projects up into the lazerettes with a lid with gasket/bolts around the lid. Idea being with the top of the box bolted down tight I can remove the PODs while still in the water as only the POD box itself will be flooded (disconnect wiring in the POD box before removing PODs)

My boat is 42ft and is supposed to be 11t but its really more like 14-15t when its all said and done. Hull speed is supposed to be around 8kts - the 2 x 6kW PODs are supposed to push her to hull speed at a little over 8.5kw of energy used - so 4kW each POD - all theory as I am still on the hard and will be for another year.

I am somewhat sceptical that this is enough power but will find out the hard way. Wish I had those 2 x 12kW units in.

[Vinny Barbarino]

Hi Jim, yes, I would go ePropulsion again.

Recently, we sailed around 250-300nm through the Caribbean.

In no particular order:

1) there was one day where the wind disappeared, and we needed to motor sail for about 8 hours or so. Although I did have a little "range anxiety", I arrived at the destination with power to spare.

2) on another day, in some very difficult current, the motors had more than enough power to get us out of trouble. Unlike diesel, you can switch the motors on, and leave them on - when you need them, they're instantly available. No "idling" in the meantime, just instant power.

3) my wife docked our boat, in a *very* tight spot - it was her very first time docking a boat, ever, reversing in. With some simple instruction from me as I was running around with dock lines, it was a stress-free breeze. The boat next to us commented how smoothly the docking was. The torgue is incredible.

4) in general, I believe I'm being overly conservative with range. I motor sailed at a very cruisy 3.5 knots, and as I recall each motor was only using several *hundred* watts. Certainly, much less than 500 watts. When we arrived after 90 minutes, the batteries had more power than when we departed.

5) sa long as you're happy *sailing* your *sailboat* I believe you will be happy with electric. You won't be doing any full-speed all-day motoring, without a huuuuuge amount of batteries.

My boat weighs about 7 ton. I've still not tested top speed under motor. I'm not sure what your top speed will be, but my gut feeling is "sure, 8 knots, that's feasible".

Good luck with it all, would love to see detailed photos of your installation!

(and any questions, fire away)

[Jim Jones]

Hi Vinny,

That sounds very reassuring!

How many hours do you think you might have put on the PODs so far? I am hoping the durability is good.

The reason I went for e-propulsion is because they are cheap enough to take a chance on since I am wandering off into uncharted territory - remember - pioneers get arrows in the back. For the money its not a train smash if it doesn't work out so well. I mean I am sure they work to some extent and if nothing else are good for close in manoeuvring work - but for long distance we all know its quite difficult on a boat to keep the batteries charged up enough to feed them.

I also have a unique use case for them that I am sure they will shine at, the main thing I am concerned about is durability. Time will tell.

I was originally going to remove the diesel and put in a 20kW motor connected to the shaft. Stupidly, I allowed myself to be talked out of that by all my new buddies at the drinking club (its a drinking club with a sailing problem) who all poo-poo'd the idea. When you are far from home in a foreign country by yourself forging ahead on a massive project you have never done before and you are surround by a dozen or more negative Nancy's all telling you dont do it, its quite easy to lose confidence in these bold new ways of doing things.

So I went to plan B. Put in POD's and keep the diesel so I have both power sources to move the boat. I took the diesel out for a full strip down and rebuild (which I have done) - but that went far far from being a smooth operation. I am currently having some serious oil leaks fixed after the engine came back from the workshop.

I took the precaution of having the engine do some hours on a "Dyno" before putting back in the boat. This revealed a major oil leak around the front "breast plate" - had to strip the front of the engine back down to replace the gasket that had got pinched on the first reassembly (how on earth this could happen I dont know but I was angry about it after all the work and running around getting the parts etc). Break. Out. Another. Thousand (BOAT) ! Its been a long sad story getting this engine overhauled. The Volvo agents in this country are a disgrace - they dont stock any parts for VP D2-55's whatsoever but have the audacity to tell you thier prices are so so over the top because of the cost of stocking parts on the shelf !! I had to fly all the parts in and you can imagine what that cost.

That last bit is the attraction of going electric - so simple compared to all of the drama of getting the engine out, finding a decent mechanic who will do a perfect job without leaving you destitute with a massive bill only to find serious errors in thier work - thank GOD I had the knowledge of what a dyno is and how it works etc to have the motor "run in" on the bench for the exact reason of finding any errors or further problems.. Can you imagine had I reinstalled the engine, rebuilt the interior around it and sailed off on my way - only to find serious oil leaks! With electric all that is gone. So simple to lift an electric motor in and out. Sure there are now other issues if it goes wrong but we are not dealing with oil leaks, wet exhaust leaks, blocked heat exchangers, bad diesel that is often found in remote places ...the list goes on and on.

Still I am preaching to the converted in this subsection of the forum :-)

So back to epropulsion. At this point I still have the D2-55 and the two POD boxes fitted to Port/Starboard on the rear of the hull - so I have both systems for now, but considering just selling the rebuilt D2 and putting in a Lynch "Pan Cake" electric motor system connected to the shaft to spin the big prop and have the two smaller 6kW POD' as back up. Not sure if you know it or not but as at mid 2024 the price of LiFePo4 cells has collapsed - I can get a decent 304 Ah cell for $70 compare to more then double that price 2 years ago when I first started off on this path. Makes it easier to put in a bigger battery bank - more batteries can go where the Diesel was. Not sure yet, still pondering this - but I have a very bitter after taste left from all the shenanigans to do with rebuilding my D2-55.

I have lived in a very remote part of Africa deep in the bush for the last 25 years. I have learnt a few things along the way....always always have a plan B because, at least out here, you will be calling on it. We have the saying that " Two is one and one is none". So having multiple power plants to call on ensures I dont get left stranded at the exact wrong moment and end up on rocks. It may "only" be a lake I am on but its huge massive inland sea that gets quite rough at times - there are a number of dangerous Capes and headlands that are notorious for killing less skilled boat operators on the lake so all the same precautions apply on the lake as at sea.

I am hugely sceptical of Chinese anything - Africa is a dumping ground for low end products that are most usually poorly built (Africans dont care for quality, they just want cheap - so the Chinese give them what they want). I will find out how good/bad the epropulsion POD's are but I feel like I need a plan B, hence keeping the diesel - however reading about success stories like yours gives one confidence this can actually work.

I am putting my POD's in ready to take arrows in the back, but it sounds like this can work OK. You have the hard experience that it does work while many of us are just spouting off on forums about it with no hard experience to talk of. As of now I am in the last group - just letting the keyboard talk - but soon enough will see how well electric actually works.

I will get some photos of my install up here for you to see. I have thousands of photos and many many videos of the process we went through making and fitting the POD boxes - just have to get them all transferred from my phone to my laptops - urgh.... a bear of a job.